Stéphane Peterhansel wins stage six for the X-raid Team

Three MINI ALL4 Racing hold the top-three positions in the overall standings.

In the sixth stage of the 2014 Dakar Rally, from Tucuman to Salta, Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA) and Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA) proved to be the quickest, with their black MINI ALL4 Racing, thus celebrating their second stage win. Second place was secured by Argentinean Orlando Terranova and his Portuguese co-driver Paulo Fiúza in the orange MINI ALL4 Racing.

Meanwhile, the winners of yesterday’s stage, Nani Roma (ESP) and Michel Périn, crossed the finish line with their yellow MINI ALL4 Racing in sixth position. The pole Krzysztof Holowczyc and his russian co-pilot Konstantin Zhiltsov finished the sixth stage in their red MINI ALL4 Racing on the 8th place.

#307 Mini: Orlando Terranova, Paulo Fiúza

Photo by: willyweyens.com

Today, everything finally ran according to plan, for Peterhansel and he contested the stage without encountering any problems.

“This was a really nice special stage,” beamed the Frenchman.

“It resembled a WRC special stage a lot – but in a fantastic landscape.

Altogether, however, the first week didn’t run too well for us and we have to settle for holding third position. But that’s not our goal. Now we have to push for making it to the very top – but doing so increases the risk of making mistakes.” He currently holds third position in the overall standings, 33 minutes behind the leader.

#309 Mini: Krzysztof Holowczyc, Konstantin Zhiltsov

Photo by: X-Raid Team

Al-Attiyah was disappointed after yesterday’s time penalty but nonetheless, he pushed again, today, and wouldn’t mind to keep on racing, tomorrow. “I completely forgot the rest day and asked my co-driver, Lukas, how many kilometres we would have to cover tomorrow”, the driver from Qatar admitted laughing. Nearly throughout the stage, he had to cope with driving in the dust of other vehicles. “I had to start from 17th position and therefore, a lot of cars were driving ahead of me. The second part of the stage was far better and I gained a lot of time.”

When arriving at the finish in Salta, Terranova was happier about the crowds than with having finished third. “Driving today was great but even greater was the crowd that lined the road at the end of the stage,” said the Argentinean. “The big number of spectators on site was just incredible. But now I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s rest day.” He still holds second position in the overall standings, some 30 minutes behind Roma.

#304 Mini: Nani Roma, Michel Perin

Photo by: A.S.O.

Roma also was happy when getting out of his MINI ALL4 Racing. “I once again had to act as pathfinder and doing so isn’t easy. There were a lot of slippery corners and no traces you could use for your orientation,” the Catalan explained. “After the rest day I will have to continue in this style: not mistakes, no punctures. Then, things are looking promising for Michel, me and the team.”

Meanwhile, it was a truly dusty day for Holowczyc. Du to his position in the starting order, he had to start into the stage behind several trucks. “Throughout the stage, I drove in the dust of the vehicles ahead of me,” he revealed. “Right in front of me was Villagra but he also was just a part of the convoy. Nonetheless, I was able to pass several opponents and will be in a better starting position, the day after tomorrow. Then, my streak of bad luck hopefully also will be over.”

Tomorrow, the MINI ALL Racing will stay in the service park of the Monster Energy X-raid Team and Team X-raid. The 2014 Dakar takes its rest day in Salta, Argentina. The drivers, however, won’t have the chance of relaxing the entire day as they also have to take care of the sponsors and journalists.